Executive: Sony will not enter a pricing war in the tablet market

We've said it before and gosh darn it, we'll say it again. The low priced tablet market is getting to be a cutthroat mobile device category. Made popular starting last November with the launch of the Amazon Kindle Fire, the niche was legitimized by this summer's launch of the ASUS built Google Nexus 7.

With all of these low-end price wars going on, one OEM that says it won't get drawn into the low-end pricing battle is Japan's Sony. Kunimasa Suzuki, an executive vice president at Sony, told the press there on Tuesday that the company will not get drawn into the low-priced tablet battle that is taking place. That comes after a statement made recently by Sony's U.S. president Phil Molyneux, who said that Sony is concentrating on the premium end of the tablet market and will not build a model with a 7 inch screen.

Besides Amazon and Google, Apple is expected to introduce either this month or next, a lower priced 7.85 inch tablet called the Apple iPad mini. With money practically oozing out of Apple's HQ in Cupertino, the manufacturer has the advantage of being able to price a mini version of the iPad at low prices in order to grab market share away from the competition. Like Apple, Google is also able to sit out a price war in this end of the market. On the other hand, Amazon doesn't live in the same neighborhood as its two rivals. Already said to be taking a loss on each of its tablets sold (although sales of content, apps and storage make it a profitable venture for the online retailer overall), it's not clear if Amazon can go lower on the $199.99 price of the OG model. In fact, the two sequels expected to be announced on Thursday include a low-end model with a new UI, and a higher priced variant with more storage and a faster processor. We'd expect the former to come in at the same $199.99 price of the now sold out original Amazon Kindle Fire.

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Well, Sony, Maybe you haven't noticed but outside of the iPad, there ISN'T a demand for higher priced tablets yet. People still use tablets for fun stuff more than work, so they use disposable income for tablets as opposed to smart phones which are viewed as a need.

That is why I am a little worried for the first wave of W8 tablets. There just isn't a premium market yet, and both Sony and W8 tablets may kill themselves if priced like there is.

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